Chapter 92 The foothold should be on crossing the river with fighting methods when negotiations break down

(April 16, 1949) The General Front Committee, Su Zhang, Liu Zhang and Li[1]: (1) The General Front Committee deletes Chen Telegram [2]. (2) For the enemy's strongholds on the north bank and in the middle of the river, if they can be captured overnight and are convenient for crossing south the next night after the capture, they should be captured the night before crossing the river; if they cannot be captured overnight, they will need more after capture. Those who have time to prepare for the south crossing should seize it in advance and deal with it according to the actual situation.

(3) The final plan of the peace agreement was submitted to Zhang Zhizhong's delegation[3] yesterday (15th) night, and Huang Shaohong[4] flew to Nanjing this morning (16th) to ask for instructions.Whether Nanjing agrees to sign will depend on the attitude of the US government and Chiang Kai-shek.If they are willing, they may sign at Mao [5], otherwise the negotiations will break down. (4) Your standpoint should be to cross the river by means of combat if the negotiation breaks down, and you must ensure that you cross the river successfully on the 22nd (Maoyang). (5) Now I ask you to consider, that is, if Nanking is willing to sign the contract at Maojiao, but asks them to be given a few days to deploy after the signing. Change to Maoyou (25th) to cross the river.Whether this delay will hinder the morale of our army and the completion of the task of crossing the river.When you make such considerations, you should still assume that although Nanjing has signed the signature, reactionary generals such as Tang Enbo [6] are still unwilling to implement it, and our army still needs to use fighting methods to cross the river.On this assumption, if you think that there should be no further delay, we will reject Nanking's request.We are prepared to grant Nanjing's request only if you think that there is no hindrance to postponing the battle to cross the river until Maoyou (25th).If so, please consider calling back.We will also inform you about the preparations for crossing the river in the near future, the degree of mastery of crossing the river, and how long it will take to complete the entire army crossing the river.

Military Commission 8 o'clock on the 16th Published according to Mao Zedong's manuscript. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Su Zhang, referring to Su Yu and Zhang Zhen, who were respectively the deputy commander, second deputy political commissar and chief of staff of the Third Field Army at that time.Liu refers to Liu Bocheng, who was then the commander of the Second Field Army.Zhang, referring to Zhang Jichun (1900-1968), a native of Yizhang, Hunan, who was then the deputy political commissar and director of the Political Department of the Second Field Army.Li, referring to Li Da, was then the Chief of Staff of the Second Field Army.

[2] Refers to the telegram sent by the General Front Committee to the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China on April 15, 1949 and reported to Liu Bocheng, Zhang Jichun, Li Da, Su Yu, Zhang Zhen, and Tan Zhenlin.The telegram stated that we believe that it is worthwhile to strive for political gains in the negotiations, even if there is a slight military inconvenience.Therefore, it is advocated that the operation be carried out on April 20. As for the enemy's strongholds on the north bank and in the middle of the river, those who can be captured overnight should be captured overnight; those who cannot be captured overnight should be retained and captured in two or three days.In the future, it will be more beneficial for military operations to continue after they are launched.

[3] Refers to the peace talks delegation of the Kuomintang government with Zhang Zhizhong as the chief representative. [4] Huang Shaohong was the peace talk representative of the Kuomintang government at that time. [5] Maou, that is, April 20th. [6] Tang Enbo (1900-1954), a native of Wuyi, Zhejiang.At that time, he was the commander-in-chief of the Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Garrison Command of the Kuomintang Army.